NYC’s coronavirus death toll tops 1,000

T. Belman.  NYC has roughly the same population as Israel but 50 times the number of deaths.

By Julia Marsh and Tamar Lapin, NY POST

Life during the coronavirus in the Upper East Side of NYC
James Messerschmidt

The Big Apple’s coronavirus death toll topped 1,000 on Tuesday afternoon — with 164 people succumbing to the illness since the morning, city data shows.

The increase in fatalities from this morning’s death toll of 932 brought the number to 1,096.

That means at least 1,095 people have fallen victim to COVID-19 in the little more than two weeks since March 14, when the first death was reported in the Big Apple.

Some 41,771 people had been infected in the five boroughs as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The first case was reported March 1.

Queens remained the hardest-hit borough with 13,869 cases, followed by Brooklyn at 11,160 and The Bronx with 7,814. Manhattan had 6,539 and Staten Island 2,354.

At least 8,549 people have been hospitalized.

April 1, 2020 | 48 Comments »

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48 Comments / 48 Comments

  1. VERY BAD HANGOVER FOR SOME, LIFE AND DEATH FOR THEIR NEIGHBORS

    “According to a report by Reuters, a group of Vanderbilt students that ignored directives from their university about the Wuhan coronavirus may have spread it to their local communities. The report claims that the students refused to shut down their social gatherings. Now, 107 students from Vanderbilt University claim to be experiencing coronavirus symptoms.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/04/05/report-100-vanderbilt-students-suffer-chinese-virus-symptoms-after-campus-parties

    WORLD LEADER IN HOSPITAL

    “UK PM Boris Johnson Admitted to Hospital Over Coronavirus Infection”

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/05/uk-pm-boris-johnson-admitted-to-hospital-over-coronavirus-infection/

    This is NOT the common cold.

  2. @ Shmuel Mohalever:
    “Why put a non-physician in charge of an alleged disease outbreak?”
    He is A VIROLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY expert specializing in SARS kind of viruses. Maybe that’s why the Chinese wanted him to attend Event201 because of the previous SARS outbreak in China a few years ago.

  3. @ Shmuel Mohalever:
    Gao:
    He is NOT a veterinarian. He started out as a veterinarian and switched to biochemistry, immunology, and virology.
    He heads a kind of Chinese CDC which is located in China. I gave the link to the article that I quoted from.

  4. As of the time of the posting of this comment USA Cornavirus still rising including deaths.

    United States Coronavirus Cases: 322,995, Deaths: 9,149

    World 1,244,321 cases, deaths 67,851

    Israel cases 8,018 deaths 48

  5. New York Records Largest Single-Day Death Toll From Coronavirus
    Spread of the pathogen keeps accelerating in more American states

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-coronavirus-cases-post-largest-ever-daily-increase-11585908325

    They also let out convicted criminals out of prison because of the virus. Allowing them to spread the virus and commit crimes.

    Crime is massively up in NYC and 20% of the cops are out sick or in quarantine. (which means 6000 cops out now). Never mind they are not arresting people for many types of crimes.

    So NYC has imploded with all sorts of problems.

  6. Reader, if you read the Science Today aarticle carefully Gao is not a medical doctor, but a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Interesting that the Chinese sent him as their representative at the Johns Hopkins conference, and less than two weeks later put him in charge of the supposed Wuhan epidemic. Why put a non-physician in charge of an alleged disease outbreak?

  7. @ Reader: Fascinating. What is the organization that Gao directs? Where is it located? Not sure I want a vetinarian telling me what to do. I hope I’m not a horse, dog or cat.

  8. @ Shmuel Mohalever:
    There was at least one doctor:
    “Gao oversees 2000 employees—one-fifth the staff size of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and he remains an active researcher himself. In January, he was part of a team that did the first isolation and sequencing of severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19. He co-authored two widely read papers published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that provided some of the first detailed epidemiology and clinical features of the disease, and has published three more papers on COVID-19 in The Lancet.

    His team also provided important data to a joint commission between Chinese researchers and a team of international scientists, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), that wrote a landmark report after touring the country to understand the response to the epidemic.

    First trained as a veterinarian, Gao later earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Oxford and did postdocs there and at Harvard University, specializing in immunology and virology. His research specializes in viruses that have fragile lipid membranes called envelopes—a group that includes SARS-CoV-2—and how they enter cells and also move between species.”
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/not-wearing-masks-protect-against-coronavirus-big-mistake-top-chinese-scientist-says
    It’s getting curiouser, for sure.

  9. h/t Reader.

    “Event 201, played by 15 leaders of business, government, and public health, will illustrate realistic policy problems that must be addressed under pressure during a pandemic. At the video-driven exercise, players will be presented with a scenario that reveals unresolved and controversial policy and economic issues that could be solved with sufficient political will, financial investment, and attention. Players include:

    Latoya Abbott, Risk Management & Global Senior Director Occupational Health Services, Marriott International
    Sofia Borges, Senior Vice President, UN Foundation
    Brad Connett, President, U.S. Medical Group, Henry Schein, Inc.
    Christopher Elias, President, Global Development division, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
    Tim Evans, Former Senior Director of Health, World Bank Group
    George Gao, Director-General, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
    Avril Haines, Former Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency; Former Deputy National Security Advisor
    Jane Halton, Board member, ANZ Bank; Former Secretary of Finance & Former Secretary of Health, Australia
    Matthew Harrington, Global Chief Operations Officer, Edelman
    Martin Knuchel, Head of Crisis, Emergency and Business Continuity Management, Lufthansa Group Airlines
    Eduardo Martinez, President, The UPS Foundation
    Stephen Redd, Deputy Director for Public Health Service and Implementation Science, US CDC
    Hasti Taghi, Vice President & Executive Advisor, NBCUniversal Media
    Adrian Thomas, Vice President, Global Public Health, Johnson & Johnson
    Lavan Thiru, Chief Representative, Monetary Authority of Singapore
    “Outbreaks of infectious disease are inevitable, but the economic damage they cause is not,” said Ryan Morhard, project lead for Global Health Security at the World Economic Forum. “Sustained attention from a broad multistakeholder coalition is needed in advance of a severe pandemic to save lives and minimize economic and societal consequences.”

    Thi sis from a press release from the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, concerning “Event 201,” a conference that was held there in October 2019. It is interesting that all of the “players” at the conference had business or government, not medical backgrounds.

    On the other hand, after WHO proclaim a world pandemic only four months later, it was the Johns Hopkins Medical Venter that was tasked with the job of reporting on the numbers of infection and the number of deaths. An odd coincidence, don’t you think, that a “real” pandemic was proclaimed so soon after a conference of economists,and government officials,none of them doctors “predicted” it? And doctors from the same university that hosted the conference were charged with “monitoring” it? It gets curiouser and curio riser.

  10. “5 Million Cases Worldwide, 650,000 Deaths Annually: The Seasonal Flu Virus is a “Serious Concern”, But the Wuhan Coronavirus Grabs the Headlines

    Tom Clifford Reporting from Beijing

    First published on January 27, 2020. Figures quoted for the coranavirus pertain to late January

    The common flu virus will infect millions across the globe. It can be easily spread and will especially strike the young and the elderly. But this is not what has been described as the Wuhan virus. The common flu is far deadlier. This is not to downplay the Wuhan coronavirus flu, or to give it its medical name, 2019-nCoV.

    The common flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization

    In the US:

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that so far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses for the 2019-2020 season, 140,000 hospitalizations and 8,200 deaths in the U.S. The CDC reports there have been 54 reported flu-related pediatric deaths this season from Influenza B viruses. (The Hill)

    China’s Coronavirus

    Keeping track of Wuhan virus figures is difficult, not least because of the two-week incubation period. The coronavirus outbreak, which is concentrated in Wuhan, a major transport hub in central eastern China, has so far killed 56 and infected almost 2,000.

    The initial symptoms of coronavirus are typically similar to those of a cold or flu, which means it is hard for people to know if they are infected, especially given that the outbreak has coincided with flu season. The mayor of Wuhan said on Sunday evening that he expected another 1,000 or so new cases. But the National Health Commission in Beijing said the number of people currently under medical observation for the virus is 30,453. This raises immediate questions about how and where they are being observed.

    The response to the outbreak has been criticized with people complaining that announcing restrictions hours before they could be properly implemented allowed people to evade quarantine. The strict restrictions also risk causing resentment and distrust of authorities and the health messages they deliver.

    A massive construction effort is being undertaken in Wuhan to build a 1,000-bed hospital for the virus patients.

    In the past week [mid January], the number of confirmed infections has more than tripled and cases have been found in 13 provinces in China, as well as the municipalities Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The virus has also been confirmed in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.

    The virus seems to have a 3 percent mortality rate. However, this could be an overestimate since there may be a far larger pool of people who have been infected by the virus but who have not suffered severe enough symptoms to attend hospital and so have not been counted in the data.

    Consequently, it is difficult to gauge just how contagious it is. A crucial difference is that unlike flu, there is no vaccine for the new coronavirus, which means it is more difficult for vulnerable members of the population – elderly people or those with existing respiratory or immune problems – to protect themselves.

    The common flu does not grab the headlines. But attach a foreign name to a virus – such as Ebola, Zika and Wuhan – and then the headlines flow.”

    This is from a Canadian website, globalresearch ca, which apparently focuses on world globalization trends.

  11. @ Bear Klein

    Yes, it rains, but not heavily or for long, and at this period seems that there is sunshine every afternoon for hours- I haven’t been out for several months, and especially now, wouldn’t- I get as much fresh air as I want from opening the windows for a few hours, closing them as the sun departs- it’s chilly then; And exercise by walking around my sitting room (45 paces), about 50-60 times- takes 20-22 mins-

    So far-so good !! I’ve had 3-4 miraculous escapes from death, and it would cause me great inconvenience to succumb from a germ I couldn’t even see- G-D Forbid-
    incnvenient t succumb frm an invisibe germ i cudn’t even see-

  12. @ Bear Klein:

    I briefly considered it a few weeks ago, but concluded that the side effects would be like a full blown flu attack-

    Have taken daily, for many years, 1000 Calcium Plus(a variety of other vit and min,) Vit C 1200 , D3 1800 IU, B12 1200, Vit E 400, Omega 3 1800, Selenium 50 mg -(Vegetarian well over 50 years -much oatmeal, ground flax-seed etc,-simple stuff) I really like it-

    Soooo—So far, so good- !!

    Ever since as a kid, I read that George Bernard Shaw was a lifelong vegetarian, I determined to be the same- He was still alive then, and at a great age, unheard of in my limited knowledge– He was also a strong Anti-Semite, which I didn’t know then–

    My favourite snack, for many years thereafter, was raw thick-stemmed cabbage leaves- I must have eaten a whole field full over the years. I liked the juicy tart taste, also raw turnips. Carrots not so much, that soapy taste- and as a kid I avoided soap as much as I could-except in the minimum visible areas, which got their brief swipe.

  13. @ Michael S:

    Excellent reference!

    With mail initially I am not handling with my hands and letting it sit for a day or two. Same with delivered packages. Thereby increasing the time any time a virus on the mail or packages would need to live to infect me.

  14. “One March 11 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the coronavirus can live up to 24 hours on cardboard, and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. But, according to Joseph Vinetz, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist, that doesn’t mean it will infect you. “Detection does not mean transmissible,” he says.

    “Alan Koff, MD, chief fellow of the infectious disease program at Yale School of Medicine, adds that the conditions packages go through may also make it more difficult for the virus to survive. “It is likely that the temperature outside and the length of time the package is in shipping may impact the survival of the virus on that surface,” he says—that’s in contrast to the lab settings viruses are usually tested in. All that’s to say, of course, that even if coronavirus coronavirus [sic] did make it on to a package, it would likely not make it to your door.”

    https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/can-the-coronavirus-spread-through-mail

  15. @ Edgar G.:
    You are doing way better with your mail than I.
    I use my bare hands pretty much for everything including shredding my mail (I open it with a letter opener).
    I refuse to keep Lysol or Clorox around the apartment but I always have a bottle or two of 70% rubbing alcohol and 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (it can bleach things, though) and some cleaners from Whole Foods.
    I also carry a small bottle of disinfecting gel with me when I go shopping – I was lucky I had a couple of them before the run on the disinfectants started.
    I have to shop by myself but I couldn’t stand the kind of confinement you have to endure, anyway.

  16. @ Edgar G.:
    My doctor friend says the flu shots help with the flu. Which keeps you from getting the flu. This helps with the corona virus only as far as it keeps your system from being weakened by the flu.

    I am taking 5000 units of D3 for the next couple of months as it helps with immunity.

  17. @ Reader:

    Yes I do understand, we are really helpless- What I do, is use a 70% alcohol solution, a little of which I add to my soapy hands- My brilliant daughters, real computer savvy wizards, have deeply researched everything, and come up with the 70%, and there are also good Lysol and Clorox products; but they have differing “killing” times- Pure alcohol is no good, it evaporates too fast, which is why the 70% is better, is mixed with a retardant-

    You are right to wipe your bananas etc- As I have said, a daughter shops for me, and she wipes every apple, tomato, banana and etc-

    I pick up every piece of mail, either with rubber gloves, or with a couple of pieces of toilet paper, open them with a scissors, extract, and read, without actually touching them- what I discard, I do by cutting them up with the scissors right over the toilet bowl, then wash my gloves, hands and scissors as described above-

    Can do no better- nobody knows really-

  18. @ Edgar G.:
    “What should my procedure be now ??”
    I hate to say that, Edgar, I don’t think there is anything you or anyone can do here.
    Did you get any advice on how to handle your mail?
    Because I didn’t.
    I wash my hands after I get my mail or come back from the outside. Very occasionally, I wipe the front door (of the apartment) doorknobs with a disinfecting wipe. I also wash cans and containers brought from the store (still sealed) with a drop of dish detergent, and I carry a small bottle of disinfecting gel with me and rub my hands with it before I touch the steering wheel.
    I wash fruit and vegetables in plain water. Lately, I’ve taken to washing bananas (unpeeled, obviously) with a drop of dish detergent.
    Anyway, what else can you do? Fumigate everything and everyone?
    You just gave a good example which shows why a virus cannot be avoided or slowed down.

  19. @ Reader:

    I think they are still floundering around with no assured direction emerging yet-
    Many mention the 1919 massive epidemic, but they had no idea how to handle it then; they eventually tried a serum made from blood samples from recovered people, like the way smallpox was conquered- In those days, and even many years later this was the way they “handled” attempted cures-

    For 2-3 years, I was one of the victims of a -distilled from sputum- 6 week course of serum injections (thrice a week) for bronchitis, which I’d get just before school began in September (No matter how hard I tried, I always got better before school actually began) They had no effect on the bronchitis,

    I just grew out of it, the same way it had settled on me me-suddenly -but it left me with a lifelong avoidance of any form of injection, even necessary anti-tetanus (also never had) !

  20. @ Reader:

    You are on the same track as myself re; flu shots- we both may have developed some sort of immunity, but I wouldn t personally rely on the possibility, especially with ever evolving strains-

    Here is a possible scenario about the mail- A person (who may already have been infected, with no signs showing-yet) writes me a letter, puts it in an envelope, licks the glued flap, ,closes it, stamps it (maybe anther lick) it goes through a variety of sorting machinery, then the mail carrier takes it, puts it in my letter box- even assuming the carrier wears protective gloves, they are no good if he has handled a single infected envelope-or lid, he lifts my letterbox lid, and drops it inside-

    What should my procedure be now ?? (Alternately it could be that an infected person touched it en route-)

  21. @ Edgar G.:
    Here is an interview with an epidemiologist from late January. The epidemiologist says that:
    “Two or three weeks ago, we were still hoping for containment,” says Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University. “We’re really past that. … The horse is out of the barn.”
    https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/6/21161234/coronavirus-covid-19-science-outbreak-ends-endemic-vaccine
    Basically, the reason they were trying “to slow it down” is to buy time to develop a vaccine before it spread to millions of people and became endemic like the common flu coming back each year.
    I don’t see (I am not an expert, obviously) how a virus can be contained as long as it is capable of infecting humans who live very close together. A virus is a tiny piece of genetic material, it could not even be seen in a microscope until 1931 or so.
    I think (again, it’s just my unlearned opinion) that it would be more effective to find the right medication to prevent its complications and study the thing thoroughly than to lock millions of people up (very imperfectly – they still have to shop for food and stuff), ruin the economy, and then subject everyone to required vaccinations like lab animals. A lot of people are going to be asymptomatic or immune (once it spreads) but everyone is going to have it.

  22. @ Edgar G.:
    The USPS mail is no problem, we have individual mailboxes inside by the front door but the management asks that if you get deliveries, you should accept them outside the building so that the delivery people don’t enter the building. This is weird because a few deliveries are by the USPS and they HAVE TO enter the building, at least at the front door.
    I have never had a flu shot myself (I am OK with the shots but wary of the side effects) and all I had in the last 40 years or so in terms of the flu (that I recall) is a flu-like illness 4 years ago in June(!) but I think it was something else, maybe it was Lymes?
    I was sick a lot as a child – once I reached 12 yo, I was basically OK (developed immunity?) except for a couple of times when I was in my twenties.

  23. @ Edgar G.<:

    READER-The reason I chipped in is that you said that with any virus it doesn’t stop until everyone is infected- or so I understood it. The heavy black print is unintentional-

  24. @ Reader:

    Allow me to mention a brief item here without interfering with the flow;

    I personally, having a serious antipathy to needles since youth, (explainable) have never ever, had a flu shot; and am appalled to read here in the past weeks of the huge infection and death rates due to flu-

    The last time I had the flu is lost in the mists of time, perhaps 50 or more years ago-
    It may have been before flu shots became common as a prophylactic-

    I seem to have passed blithely right through all the horrible seasons–

    Now, my children, masked, goggled and gloved, have put me in isolation-which in itself doesn’t bother me, but the figures you quote do !!

    A point- How are people handling their delivered personal mail ??

  25. @ stevenl:
    I thought that the health care system is “overwhelmed and cannot handle this”?
    You can’t produce more doctors and nurses overnight or even in a couple of months.
    AMA has consciously kept the number of doctors down so that the ones that made it can make more money.

  26. Trump needs to put some pressure on the medical authorities, to become more aggressive not only in diagnosing but treating any person who test +ve and is symptomatic (or not?). This will decrease the spread and speed-up the lift off of the economy!

  27. @ Ted Belman:
    “they should avoid the economic shut down”
    I cannot help thinking that they WANT the economic shut down. I don’t know WHY they would want it but if they are ready to risk it, then the unknown to us result they expect has to be highly worth it to them.
    I simply cannot imagine that the top politicians in the world did NOT foresee and work out the possible (global) outcomes of their actions, especially considering that the possibility of a pandemic has been an ongoing topic for at least a decade among the experts, in the government, and in the military.
    Just imagine the populace in the US and around the world which is angry and miserable and extremely radicalized by the economic depression of unprecedented proportions and ready to do anything in order to obtain some food and shelter (and just think who they are going to blame for their misery, as usual).
    This will be especially true of young people and the minorities.
    It scares me to think about it but the powers that be act cool and keep extending the shut down.

  28. @ Ted Belman:
    Correct. Except the way they are “protecting” the elderly is demeaning, insulting, damaging to our health in other ways, infringes on our civil rights, and labels us as inferior.
    I DIDN’T ASK TO BE PROTECTED.
    Every tenant today got a threatening memo from our apartment complex management (this is NOT a complex for the elderly) about the new COVID-19 rules including that the elderly must stay at home except for medical visits and “essential activities” (based on the governor’s executive order effective ’til the 30th of April) and report to the management if they tested positive for the coronavirus.
    I feel extremely depressed because of this “protection”, and I am sure there are others who feel this way to the point of hopelessness and not wanting to live anymore.
    Are they going to lock us up for our ”protection” every year now for 5-6 months? We have tenants in their 60s living here who still work (or worked, I guess – they may no longer have their jobs and won’t be able to pay their rent).
    The elderly are going to be dying like flies because of this unwanted “protection” or, rather, imprisonment.

  29. @ Bear Klein:
    The only reason I “addressed you on this topic” this time is to say that I AGREE WITH YOU but I had to point out the inconsistencies and contradictions.
    I remember that you don’t want me to discuss this topic with you and I will NOT do so.

  30. Countries should focus on protecting the most vulnerable ie the elderly, particfularly with those who have an underlying health condition.

    Save for that they should avoid the economic shut down.

  31. @ Reader:
    Corona virus is the experimental stage of how to treat. Also it is more severe on the respiratory system which causes patients to be longer on ventilators. There are no vaccines for corona virus that lessen or eliminate symptoms like with the flu.

    I understand you have different point of view. Feel free to maintain that, it does not matter to me. However, I have no interest in debating with you on this topic. I do not wish to be rude but kindly do not address me on this topic.

  32. @ Shmuel Mohalever:
    Looking at the numbers from lockdown vs. NOlockdown countries it seems that the spread of the virus (or, possibly, ANY virus) CANNOT be slowed down or stopped until it infects enough people. Everyone is or will become “infected” with or without symptoms and will either become immune or die, and it has to happen sooner or later. In other words, after you quit locking up the elderly, they will become exposed and infected anyway.
    The total morbidity and mortality depends on a particular virus.
    The wildlife carries a lot of viruses – what will you do – disinfect the meadows and forests? You can keep away from wild animals but not much else.
    It seems to me that either these “experts” are no experts or they are being told by someone what to say.

  33. @ Bear Klein:
    I AGREE WITH YOU. EVERY DEATH IS BAD! WHY THEN DOESN’T anybody weep and wail over 24,000-62,000 FLU DEATHS in the US from Oct.1st, 2019-Mar. 21, 2020 (the annual flu epidemic) up to 70% of these IN THE ELDERLY (the REAL Boomer-Remover)?
    Isn’t this kind of HYPOCRITICAL?
    WHY THEN the US hospitals DID NOT GET OVERWHELMED with 18,000,000 – 26,000,000 flu medical visits and 400,000 – 730,000 flu hospitalizations?!?!
    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm

  34. @ Ted Belman:
    It was surprising to me, too. I used to think that New York’s population was at least 12 million! When I saw the 8.7 figure, at first I thought it was wrong.

  35. “Last year, approximately 48,000 Americans committed suicide and an estimated 67,000 died of a drug overdose. That level of individual despair occurred in a strong economy with near record-low levels of unemployment in virtually every demographic. Imagine the human toll if we shut down the economy indefinitely and unemployment reaches 30% or higher, as the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank now predicts.

    The president, his team, governors, and other public officials throughout America are having to make tough decisions with incomplete information. It’s impossible for them to get it just right. They have the best of intentions, and they deserve our support.” This is a quotation from an article in realclearpolitics.com. Full disclosure: This quote is highly selective. The author does believe in the reality of the pandemic, and he asks veryone to follow the advice of a Dr. David Price, a “front line” doctor caring for (supposed) coronavirus victims in New York Hospitals. Dr. Price’s advice is similar to that of the state and Federal governments.

  36. As of Tuesday, in New York State, the daily number of new deaths has increased by an average of 31% a day, and the number of deaths has tripled in four days. Statewide, the number of confirmed coronavirus patients has increased by 9,298, to 75,795. The number of coronavirus hospitalizations is close to 11,000, up 15% from Monday, with 2,710 new patients in ICU with ventilators

    https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/ny/nyc-hospitals-morgues-collapsing-under-covid-19-burden-as-death-toll-reaches-1100/2020/04/01/

  37. California and Washington acted swiftly to mitigate the coronavirus threat, while New York and New Jersey lagged behind – resulting in sharp differences in the states’ current tallies for confirmed cases and deaths, a key member of President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force said Tuesday.

    “California and Washington reacted very early to this,” Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force response coordinator, told reporters during a news briefing at the White House, noting that both states have avoided spikes in infections despite being early leaders when the virus first hit the U.S. in January.

    As Birx spoke, she pointed to a pair of charts showing the impact of mitigation efforts by California and Washington state officials – such as early testing and shelter-in-place orders

    Full article at https://www.foxnews.com/health/birx-praises-california-washington-for-coronavirus-response-says-ny-nj-lagged

  38. When older people do not heed the social distancing guidelines this occurs:

    4 Dead, Dozens Hospitalized From Colorado Bridge Tourney
    The infamous Colorado bridge tournament attended by a COVID-19 positive player has turned deadly, scaring the club that features players with an average age of 72.

    Thus far the club has seen four deaths and dozens hospitalized, according to BuzzFeed News, as the global coronavirus pandemic has been most fatal to elderly and vulnerable members of society that might have weakened immune systems.


    https://www.newsmax.com/us/pandemic-elderly-fatalities-colorado/2020/03/31/id/960837/

  39. “The fact that Spain and Italy — which have seen much more intense outbreaks — are doing fewer tests indicates they are missing many mild or asymptomatic cases. That makes their fatality rates look worse than they are. ” This is sfrom an article in the Associate Press that supports the harsh social distancing rules in place throughout the “developed” world. The AP reporter thinks that that the lack of widespread testing causes many deaths by allowing the virus to spread.
    What this overlooks is that if large numbers of people have been “infected” with the virus have experienced either no symptoms or only very mild ones, and have therefore not asked to be tested, it would mean that the virus is much less dangerous than what the world’ governments are claiming.

  40. NY City’s hospitals became overwhelmed that is part of the reason for the death toll.

    Italy’s hospitals became overwhelmed that is at least partly why they have a death toll of 12,428.

    Keeping the hospitals and staff from being overwhelmed is paramount in not losing lives.

  41. @ Reader:
    Thanks reader for this correction. I always used to think of NYC as having 10 million population as far back as 50 years ago. I simple assumed it would have double by now. Go know.

    That makes their death toll even worse.

  42. “T. Belman. NYC has roughly twice the population of Israel but 50 times the number of deaths.”

    From one of Bear Klein’s posts:
    “Coronavirus deaths in Netherlands rise by 175 to 1,039 -authorities
    By REUTERS MARCH 31, 2020 15:18”

    1039 : 18 =~58

    New York city has 8.7 million people.
    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=population+of+new+york+city

    Netherlands has ~17.5 million ppl vs. Israel’s ~9 million.
    Netherlands has ~58 times more deaths than Israel.
    I don’t know whether 58 times vs. 50 times is significant or not with Netherlands doing nothing about the virus.
    I am not qualified to say.

  43. The President and his team have told us to expect exponential increases, hopefully peaking in about two weeks and then slowing. The data reflect this.

  44. “Influenza-related illnesses this week [02-01-2020] climbed to nearly 22 million nationwide…
    “So far this season in the U.S. (there’s been) a mortality rate from flu-like illnesses and pneumonia of around 7 percent”…”
    I don’t know whether “influenza-related illnesses” and “flu-like illnesses and pneumonia” are one and the same.
    Assuming they are, the number of deaths caused by them by 02-01-2020 in the US was
    22,000,000 x 0.07 = 1,540,000 deaths

    We will see whether coronavirus cases will keep increasing or start going down.

  45. FYI:
    “Influenza-related illnesses this week [02-01-2020] climbed to nearly 22 million nationwide…
    …There were 8,602 cases of flu confirmed in New York City in the week ending Feb 1 [2020]…
    “So far this season in the U.S. (there’s been) a mortality rate from flu-like illnesses and pneumonia of around 7 percent”…
    …only 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S., and none in New York [as of 02-01-2020]
    https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/flu-bigger-threat-nyc-coronavirus-experts-say

    “As of Tuesday [03-31-20], New York state has recorded nearly 75,800 cases [of coronavirus] and 1,550 deaths.” [~2.05% of identified cases]
    https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/s/h2fnb/u-s-coronavirus-live-blog-up-to-240k-deaths-our-real-number

    So, the number of coronavirus cases has increased dramatically in 2 months (Feb.,March).
    The % of deaths from the flu up until 02-01-2020 = 7% in the US.
    The % of deaths from coronavirus in NY state up until 03-31-2020 is ~2.05%

    Various stats for NY City and state:
    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=new+york+city+deaths++from+the+flu